Grafton citizens question motives of aldermen

Grafton Mayor Tom Thompson, second from left, and the Mayor’s Office came under scrutiny among five out of six Grafton aldermen before a Grafton City Council special meeting convened Wednesday night. A call for an attorney general’s investigation was placed on file, essentially killing the motion, before citizens and Grafton residents turned the scrutiny toward the five aldermen. City Clerk Mary Lillesve is pictured to Thompson’s left, while to his right is pictured aldermen Bobbie Amburg, Roger Crone and Jerry Bauersachs.

Due to the amount of people who came to take part in Wednesday night’s Grafton City Council meeting, it was moved from Grafton City Hall to the Grafton Elementary School gymnasium to accommodate all in attendance.

Joe DeSherlia was one of the many people who registered to speak in the public forum portion of Wednesday night’s Grafton City Council meeting. Each participant was given five minutes to say what they wanted regarding their feelings and concerns about the actions of Grafton City Council members.

GRAFTON — More than 150 citizens in Grafton attended a special meeting Wednesday evening, the majority showing support for embattled Mayor Tom Thompson amid calls by aldermen for an investigation into the Mayor’s Office.

Many in the crowd focused attention back on council members, questioning their recent actions.

A dozen speakers called out Grafton aldermen Roger Crone, Jerry Bauersachs and Flo Rowling for what the Grafton residents described as abuse of power, bullying and seeking vengeance for personal vendettas. At least three of the speakers called for the trio’s resignations but Rowling left the special meeting before the majority of the council came under fire during the public forum portion of the meeting. Alderman Sara Carey was absent due to a death in her family. The crowd at the meeting showed massive support for Mayor Tom Thompson throughout the entire evening displaying signs that said “We support Mayor Tom Thompson” and clapping thunderously.

Prior to the public forum the council dealt with the agenda item calling for the approval to hire attorney Andrew Carruthers to coordinate with the Attorney General’s Office, which was discussed in an executive session with state’s attorney Ben Goetten at Goetten’s request. The heavily attended meeting, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at City Hall, already underwent delays due to a venue change to the Grafton Elementary School as soon as the meeting convened at City Hall because it exceeded its 100-person capacity with attendees. The meeting reconvened at 7:20 p.m. at the school, and again at 8:20 p.m. after the 15-20 minute executive session.

Crone then made a motion to place the agenda item calling for the AG investigation on file, basically putting the issue to rest with a 5-0 vote.

“Steve Hayes brought up the idea before the meeting and we discussed it again in executive session to request for the Illinois Municipal League to act as a mediator with the mayor and the city council,” Thompson explained to the audience. “The past is the past, we should move forward and the blame of the past, put it in the past. I’ll try to seek that and I believe all the aldermen are in favor of that, trying that.”

Yet citizens were not willing to let aldermen off the hook for actions they described during the public forum, which had been moved to the end of the special meeting due to a motion to change the agenda’s order of action that met city council approval in a 4-1 vote at the beginning of Wednesday’s special meeting. Bauersachs made the motion to change the agenda’s order; Alderman Bobbie Amburg voted against it.

After the public forum and the meeting’s adjournment, both Bauersachs and Crone said, “No comment” as to whether they would consider residents’ call to resign or on any of the issues brought up at the meeting. The Telegraph asked both men multiple times for their side of the issues, each time receiving the answer of “no comment” or, “I have no repsonse.”

During the public forum Grafton resident, business owner and Grafton grade school teacher Rick Eberlin demanded an answer from Crone, who supervises the city’s street department, as to who ordered a survey of Eberlin’s Vine Street property. The City Council did not approve such a survey, that was originally to be followed by an additional survey of the property where Eberlin’s house sits; after being rescheduled a few times because of rain curiously the second survey was canceled, Eberlin explained to the Telegraph.

In engineering firm Sheppard, Morgan and Schwaab Inc.’s letter to Crone dated Oct. 14, 2015, a list of council-approved parcel numbers for surveying do not include Eberlin’s parcel numbers. All surveys require City Council approval. Additionally,a 2-foot by 1 foot by 65-foot-long concrete curb installed by CSR following the completed unapproved survey limits Eberlin’s ability to get a lawn mower onto his grassy private property.

“Why would it be someone ordered a survey? I’m asking you to resign your position as a public servant,” Eberlin said at Wednesday night’s special meeting. “I want that curb taken care of.”

Former city council member Charles Linnemeyer, who moved to Glen Carbon about a year ago, spoke on behalf of Grafton and questioned the current goings on. He served under immediate past mayor Richard Mosby, as well as Thompson.

“I’ve seen the city grow a lot, attracting business people. I had a young couple visit my house six times to buy the house here for sale,” Linnemeyer recalled. “They saw what was happening with the city council and backed out. They bought a house in Alton.”

He said the notion that Thompson has mismanaged tax increment financing (TIF) funds is “a bunch of bologna.”

“He asked our St. Louis consultant every time we spent TIF money. If there was any shred of doubt, we didn’t go through with it. I know (mismanagement of TIF) is not true and that reflects on me and the city council that was there, including you Jerry,” said Linnemeyer referring to Bauersachs, who along with Crone, had previously told the Telegraph reasons for the call for investigation included concern over tax increment financing (TIF) fund spending, as well as lack of communication from the mayor.

Raging Rivers Water Park President Scott Adams, who also is president of Adams Development which has residential and commercial Grafton developments, spoke in a positive tone. He commended the city council, which includes the mayor, as a whole in joining the Jersey County enterprise zone; implementing 50/50 matching-fund business grants; maintaining the city’s position in America’s Central Port District (for which five aldermen voted to place the advisory referendum question on this spring’s ballot to voters); and, for the city’s recent handling of the winter flood.

Five-year Grafton resident Michael Kohlmiller, on behalf of the grassroots citizens group Grafton United, bestowed Thompson, Amburg and Lillesve with plaques thanking them for their public service to Grafton. Residents Linda Tolle, a former council member and lifelong resident, and Dennis Day also spoke in support of Thompson and Amburg.

Nine-year Grafton resident Ken Pfeiffer, who previously owned a business in the city, said it “breaks my heart to see the City Council at odds with each other, using their position to seek personal vendettas.”

“I hope it stops,” he said. “It trickles down to me with the loss of tax revenue. I feel like you’re taking food out of my child’s mouth. Frankly, it’s an embarrassment to this town.”

Resident Lou Lenkman voiced concern over the Americans with Disabilities Act-required sidewalk improvements asking they be replaced to meet correct standards as time and flood recovery permits. She commended Crone on most of the sidewalk repair work he has implemented in the last several months. She asked aldermen to tell the audience three positive outcomes they facilitated since taking office last April. She described the majority of aldermen as using their positions as a bully pulpit.

“My point is, if the city council is going to participate in government, they need to be accountable to voters, citizens instead of being rude, disrespectful and non-responsive,” Lenkman said. “Each of you need to think about your actions, stop the bullying tactics ever since you were sworn into office since May. Serve the people you represent or resign your positions.”

Residents and marina owner Joe DeSherlia and his daughter Laura Stemm also spoke asking for the resignations of aldermen Carey, Rowling and Bauersachs, who of the latter two they said called the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “get us.” Stemm said she was told that Carey had a person from the city’s zoning office visit the Stemm property for violations and to “go back until you find something” when nothing appeared amiss at the property.

“Either start caring about these citizens and the town instead of touting your personal agenda, which you clearly have, or resign,” Stemm said.

DeSherlia also said that aldermen should have been helping the two families evacuate their homes with the unexpected and quickly rising floodwaters, instead of taking photographs for an imagined FEMA violation.

“We have emails and evidence they did this when we were trying to evacuate,” he said. “We hope people, newspapers watch this city council closely. We even tried to defend Flo Rowling during the motorcycle fiasco, but her arrogance shan’t be tolerated and Jerry Bauersachs you are not fit to govern this nice little town.”

“In the recent election leading to the creation of this new city government, several of you council members campaigned with the slogan ‘Take Back Grafton’ and elected with narrow margins,” Britt said. “…slogan presumes some dark sinister force threatens Grafton’s existence, and that heroic guardians are needed to resist it. It also presumes that the town ‘belongs’ to the would-be guardians, and that the threat is from ‘outsiders,’ often referred to on social media as ‘carpetbaggers.’ But nothing could be further from the truth.”

He referred to Bauersachs specifically.

“You particularly strike me as very intelligent but you’re like Lex Luthor, using your talents for evil instead of good,” he said.

And he asked questions.

“Take Grafton back to where? And from whom?” he queried. “No. You are the threat. Attacking and opposing the mayor with a trumped up ‘no confidence’ vote is what you consider the best use of your time and effort?”

Grafton Mayor Tom Thompson, second from left, and the Mayor’s Office came under scrutiny among five out of six Grafton aldermen before a Grafton City Council special meeting convened Wednesday night. A call for an attorney general’s investigation was placed on file, essentially killing the motion, before citizens and Grafton residents turned the scrutiny toward the five aldermen. City Clerk Mary Lillesve is pictured to Thompson’s left, while to his right is pictured aldermen Bobbie Amburg, Roger Crone and Jerry Bauersachs.

http://thetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_0107GraftonCityCouncilMtg6_cruz-3.jpgGrafton Mayor Tom Thompson, second from left, and the Mayor’s Office came under scrutiny among five out of six Grafton aldermen before a Grafton City Council special meeting convened Wednesday night. A call for an attorney general’s investigation was placed on file, essentially killing the motion, before citizens and Grafton residents turned the scrutiny toward the five aldermen. City Clerk Mary Lillesve is pictured to Thompson’s left, while to his right is pictured aldermen Bobbie Amburg, Roger Crone and Jerry Bauersachs.

Due to the amount of people who came to take part in Wednesday night’s Grafton City Council meeting, it was moved from Grafton City Hall to the Grafton Elementary School gymnasium to accommodate all in attendance.

http://thetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_0107GraftonCityCouncilMtg7_cruz-3.jpgDue to the amount of people who came to take part in Wednesday night’s Grafton City Council meeting, it was moved from Grafton City Hall to the Grafton Elementary School gymnasium to accommodate all in attendance.

Joe DeSherlia was one of the many people who registered to speak in the public forum portion of Wednesday night’s Grafton City Council meeting. Each participant was given five minutes to say what they wanted regarding their feelings and concerns about the actions of Grafton City Council members.

http://thetelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_0107GraftonCityCouncilMtg3_cruz-3.jpgJoe DeSherlia was one of the many people who registered to speak in the public forum portion of Wednesday night’s Grafton City Council meeting. Each participant was given five minutes to say what they wanted regarding their feelings and concerns about the actions of Grafton City Council members.